FREE Noise Pop Tickets! Act Now. . . .

Thanks to the good folks over at +1 I’ve got some tickets to offer two of you.  All you have to do is respond to this post with a decent April fools scenario.  Doesn’t have to be long or even funny, but it must fall within the parameters of a good joke.  Respond here.  Please include your full name in the response or an easy way to get in touch with you.

Here’s who you’ld get to see:
DAVID DONDERO
David Dondero is funny, and so are his songs. Through each of his
tangled tales about life’s misbegotten also-rans, there runs a current
of wicked wit. When you write a song about something really sad, if you
try to look at it in a somewhat humorous way, it’s really not that
sad,” he explains. “I try to find some humor in the worst of things.” A
prime example is his classic “The Real Tina Turner,” from 2001’s
Shooting at the Sun With a Water Gun album and 2004’s Live at the
Hemlock disc. The tune’s comes from Dondero overhearing someone say, “I
was a real Tina Turner in my time.” Like so many of his songs, it’s
musically upbeat but lyrically downcast. “Well, that’s about a washed
up prostitute that used to make a lot of money fucking guys in the
backseat of cars,” he says. “So finding the humor in that is [hard]. I
don’t want to paint too bleak of a picture. I think it’s pretty funny,
the underworld.”

He performs Saturday (that’s tomorrow!) April 1st, 2006 at the Knockout

David Dondero : Pre Invasion Jitters (Real Player)

I’m off to Bimbo’s to check out The Two Gallants.  Can’t get enough of those guys.  Tune in for a review of the show later this weekend.  Also, be sure to check out Guitarfish this Sunday at Cafe DuNord at 4:00 PM (yes, you read right, an afternoon show!  When is the last time you went to one of those? Hope they have a Sushi bar.

I Thank You People

What’s great about posting on a music blog is the folks that reach out to me and make me aware of bands I may never coome across on my own.  I’m also thankful to friends who burn me music.  Without ‘you people’ I’d be a total loser.  Here’s another one of these super posts:

Thanks to Glen Murrell for making me aware of Dischord and the amazing stuff they continue to churn out.  Fugazi is over but Ian McKay keeps the soul of D.C. punk alive with Medications.  They pull out all of the stops here and give you great, hard rock with that slick, thousand chord progression balanced by insane drum work.  Here’s what the distributors from Southern have to say:

Medications debut full-length album, Your Favorite People…, was
recorded in February 2005 at Inner Ear Studios by Fugazi’s Brendan
Canty. Brendan had become well acquainted with Devin and Chad when
Faraquet toured with Fugazi and was introduced to the new band when
Medications appeared on the Washington, DC edition of Canty’s Burn To
Shine DVD series. Shortly after the recording of the full-length
Medications went to Japan for their first tour overseas. Upon the
release of Your Favorite People… the band plan to continue touring
extensively, aiming to tour Europe later this summer.

Medications : Surprise!
Medications : Twine Time
Medications : Safe & Sorry

Now, I’m not a big ‘electronica’ fan and that’s clear by the fact that I’m not even sure if that’s what you can call Downliners Sekt, but that genre doesn’t seem fitting enough.  Either way, feel free to correct me.  I’m especially impressed by the fact that these folks are giving away their entire LP.  Nontheless, the music is amazing and artfully crafted.  Reminds me a lot of Massive Attack.  This is what they have to say:

“We bored as fuck with the music industry. We give our music away.”

Downliners Sekt : benz
Downliners Sekt : Weather Underground
Download the entire “Statement of Purpose LP” here

And now for something completely different I give you All Mighty Whispers.  They’ve got a great sound and catchy melodies.  They say:

All Mighty Whispers
deliver a distinctive debut album full of mature songs crystallised by
rich and bold arrangements.  These 13 songs speak to you about love,
hope and the darker side of life, and are shot through with an assured
pop sensibility. All Mighty Whispers create evocative, haunting,
contemporary music that defies categorization.

All Mighty Whispers : Love Revolution
All Mighty Whispers : Mighty Whisper
All Mighty Whispers : Spiritual

It Snowed in San Francisco.

Yes, it’s true.  I witnessed it and have pictures to prove it.  It snowed in San Francisco last night.  Some may say it was hail, others see it as a clear sign of global warning, but it has snowed here before (in 1976, so I am told).  And with that I got a call from my mother.  She sold all of my comics for $25.  They were worth over $500.  I guess when it snows, it spills sorrow.

Here are some good things that have come my way as of late:

JACOB FAURHOLT & SWEETIE PIE WILBUR

The sextet from Denmark Jacob Faurholt & Sweetie Pie Wilbur play noisy experimental folk-pop. On the debut album from 2005, Queen Of Hope, you’ll get a sort of underacted, spontanious and intimate pop where the little mistakes and disharmonies is a intentional artistic effect

Ok, so I’m not crazy about the band’s name, but the music certainly makes up for it.  They remind me a bit of Califone and Bright Eyes,  but they seem to be much more talented instrumentalists. . .

JFSPW : Let Them Go
JFSPW : Faceless Ones
JFSPW : We Like Snow (how appropriate is this?)
JFSPW : Queen of Hope
JFSPW : This is Not Your Soul
JFSPW : Cross That Line

GUTBUCKET

New York’s wild post-rock quartet Gutbucket announces the release of a promotional mp3 download from their new CD, Sludge Test, on Cantaloupe Music.  Gutbucket’s 3rd CD in their 7-year career finds them leaping further over the boundaries of rock and jazz, with a good dose of “other.” Recorded 100% analog in San Francisco’s legendary indie-rock haven Tiny Telephone Studios, Sludge Test adds a new recorded dimension to this international sensation whose music has been described as “an exhilarating, intelligently-performed racket” (The Guardian).

Taken in one sitting, Sludge Test is a series of musical question marks and exclamation points that all together create a cohesive art-rock soundscape for Gutbucketπs ongoing musical journey – the pursuit of angst and intensity alongside whimsy and artistic depth – melodies that shouldnπt sound right but do, and creepy rhythms that delight down to the gut.

Gutbucket tours to Chapel Hill (The Cave) 3/12, Washington, DC (DC9) 3/14, Brooklyn (North Six) 3/15, and Rochester (The Bug Jar) 3/16.

Gutbucket : Sludge Money
Gutbucket : A Night on Hamster Mountain
Gutbucket : OJ Bin Laden

THE FLINTS

The Flints being Stan Flint, and Al Huizenga, of Toronto, where we live
with our families. We originally recorded these songs in Alís basement,
with equipment his brother lent him. Weíd quiet the kids, do a track,
and theyíd start stomping around again. Took forever. Lots of
cigarettes. But we liked the songs.

Pretty tunes from Canada where it snows all the time.  Country, poppish, and Melodic.  Lead singer has a great voice and the band is very ‘tight’.  Great recordings available below:

The Flints : Girl
The Flints : Laugh With Me